


Between The Lines

by La_Temperanza



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Body Paint, Chocolate, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-08
Updated: 2012-04-08
Packaged: 2017-11-03 07:03:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/378632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/La_Temperanza/pseuds/La_Temperanza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every struggling artist could use a muse. Especially if it's said artist's boyfriend covered in edible body paint.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between The Lines

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [marguerite-26's One Word Prompt Meme](http://marguerite-26.livejournal.com/665487.html?thread=12572559#t12572559). The prompt was "Merlin/Arthur: Chocolate"

“…Arthur,” Merlin says, the sound catching in his throat as his dingy messenger bag drops to the floor, “Just what, _the hell_ , are you doing?”

With a nonchalant shrug, Arthur hops up from the spot on the bed where he’s been waiting for Merlin to return to their apartment. “You’re an artist, right?” he asks, as if they didn’t meet three years ago at Merlin’s premiere exhibition and instantly hit off, even after Arthur had loudly remarked that the paintings made “no damn sense” without realizing Merlin was standing right behind him. As if he doesn’t know how Merlin has been struggling with his current piece for the past few weeks, threatening to scrap it all together five times already. As if he isn’t standing there, completely naked and utterly aroused, holding out a pot of chocolate body paint and a clean brush. “If you’re an artist, then paint me.”

Hesitation briefly flickers in Merlin’s eyes, but the desire that surges there as well eventually wins the inner battle. He snatches the paint and brush before kissing Arthur so hard they end up falling back onto the bed together. 

In the end, their expensive Egyptian cotton sheets are ruined forever, Arthur has been painted so many times that he’ll smell like a fudge shop for days, and Merlin will probably never stop thinking how hilarious it is to sing about Arthur’s cock to the tune of that god-awful “Chocolate Rain” song when it’s really _not that funny_. 

But it’s worth it, Arthur determines when he wakes up hours later, rolling over his sluggish and very satisfied body to discover the other side of the bed is empty. Instead, Merlin is up at his easel, the moonlight filtering through the window and bathing his still naked body in an ethereal glow. He hasn’t noticed Arthur’s awake yet, his brow furrowing in concentration as he puts what looks like the finishing touches to his work.

It’s undoubtedly a part of what Arthur lovingly calls Merlin’s “drugged out dream” series, a medieval knight awash in a sea of reds and golds. The knight’s features are so unabashedly based on Arthur’s own that he has to hold his breath, not making a sound when Merlin leans forward to place a soft kiss on the knight’s highly stylized lips before whispering, “Beautiful…”

However, a bark of laughter escapes from Arthur seconds later, after Merlin is horrified that there’s now a smudge of chocolate left on the canvas.


End file.
